Ben McEntire wasn’t even a full-time player on Polk County’s roster when the 2000 football season began.
But as the placekicker prepared for the biggest moment of the Wolverines’ season, he made certain head coach Jeff Wilson needn’t worry about the game-winning field goal he was about to attempt.
“He smacked me on the fanny and said, ‘Don’t worry, Coach, I’ll make it,'” Wilson recalled this week. “And he drilled it through.”
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McEntire’s 33-yard kick as time ran out lifted Polk County, the 16th and lowest seed in the 1A West bracket, to a 16-14 victory over East Surry, the undefeated top seed in the field. It was an upset that grabbed headlines and attention all across North Carolina.
Those two teams meet again Friday, 25 years later, in the opening round of the state 3A playoffs. The 7 p.m. kickoff in Pilot Mountain will match the 20th-seeded Wolverines (3-7) against the 13th-seeded Cardinals (4-6).
It will be just the third meeting between the schools, with East Surry winning the 1AA West Regional final in April 2021, the spring season brought about by COVID. This year’s playoff opener, though, will have to be some kind of affair to match the drama and significance of the 2000 edition.
Polk County finished that 2000 regular season with a 6-4 record, defeating Robbinsville, Hayesville and Cherokee as part of its rugged Smoky Mountain Conference schedule. Despite seeing some of the state’s top 1A programs in the SMC, Wilson still knew the Wolverines faced quite a challenge in 11-0 East Surry, especially on the road.
“They had only given up something like 31 points all season,” Wilson said. “We didn’t know anything about them. This was back in a time when all we had were VHS tapes, and we had never seen them. We traded film and they looked unbelievable.
“We played some good teams in the Smoky Mountain Conference, got our record to 6-4 and qualified for the playoffs. But after seeing them on film, to be honest, I was not super optimistic.”
The Wolverines, though, were up to the task from the opening kickoff. Polk County scored first, with fullback Robbie Petty burrowing in from the 1 early in the second quarter. East Surry tied the score in the final two minutes of the first half when freshman Chris Griggs, who would go on to rush for almost 7,000 career yards, scored on a 7-yard run, creating a 7-7 halftime deadlock.
“We were playing tough and playing hard,” Wilson said. “We had a new wrinkle on one play and scored a touchdown. It was a battle back and forth between the defenses.”
The Cardinals grabbed a 14-7 lead early in the third quarter. That advantage held until the Wolverines got a Josh Twitty 2-yard touchdown run with seven minutes remaining. Wilson decided not to kick the extra point but instead go for two and the lead.
“On the road, we were going for two,” he said. “I had a really good play I had gotten from Dave Gutshall (legendary coach at Burlington Cummings and Dorman). We missed it, so now we were losing 14-13.
“We needed a stop, and we got a stop.”
That stop led to a turning point. With less than two minutes remaining, East Surry had to punt. But a high snap forced the punter to scramble and toss a pass to Griggs, who Polk tackled at the 29, short of the first down.
The Wolverines began to drive. McEntire, who played soccer until that season ended, had joined the football team full-time and added receiver duties to his kicking role. He wrestled a pass away from an East Surry defender to move Polk closer to the end zone. Quarterback Jordan Edwards, who finished 14-of-18 in the game, spiked a snap with a second remaining to set up the final field goal attempt.
The clock ticked down to zero following the spike, and East Surry players raced on the field. Wilson headed for the game officials.
“I told them there were several seconds on there when he spiked it, just to give me one second,” Wilson said. “The head referee said yes, you’re right, and East Surry called timeout.”
McEntire made his promise to Wilson as the timeout ended, then calmly sent his kick over the crossbar. Polk County players and coaches flooded the field, with the Wolverines soon picking up Wilson and parading him on their shoulders. Then members of Polk County’s band, which attended the game, did the same.
“I had a real good relationship with Gene Vanderford (the band director),” Wilson said. “I never expected that. The team paraded me around and let me down, then the band picked me up and carried me around.”
In the era where only 32 teams in each class made the playoffs, Wilson said many told him that Polk was the first 16 seed to win a playoff game. The victory earned the Wolverines a second-round trip to Albemarle to face a squad led by T.A. McClendon, who would merely rush for 9,004 yards and 178 touchdowns in his career. The Wolverines entered the final quarter tied at 14 before Albemarle pulled away for a 34-14 victory.
Wilson’s coaching staff included many names familiar to longtime Polk fans – Ed Foster, David Bollinger, Don Landrum, DJ Summers and Jamie Thompson, with trainer Wink Mintz. Wilson cited a number of players as making key contributions that season – Colt Love, Kipp Cox, Nick Riddle, Nick Stott, Chris Olson, Jon Blatt, Adam Barton, Aaron Seay, Joe Mize, Jason Twitty, Aaron Seay, Anton Petty and many more.
They all, in some way, helped deliver the most unforgettable of victories.
“Some people said it was the greatest win in Polk County history at that time,” Wilson said. “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years.
“It gives me such a great feeling to have been part of something that a lot of people remember. It was quite a night for Polk County.”
